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Monday, November 17, 2014

India - Darjeeling and Sikkim: Part 1

Hello everyone! I've been MIAing the last month - was busy planning my holidays (clearing up annual leave). I've just gotten back from India - it's my first visit to India and I really enjoyed my trip. Didn't get gastroenteritis too! Decided to upload some photos and write a short travelogue and organise my photos before I go off to Tokyo (back to back trips, poor timing and planning but I'm not complaining). I spent 8 days in Darjeeling and West Sikkim and this trip is probably the highlight of my year.

We took an evening flight from Singapore to Kolkata, stayed 1 night in Kolkata and then took a domestic flight to Bagdora in West Bengal, and subsequently travelled north to Darjeeling by car.

We had a quick lunch at one of the hotels in Bagdora. The fried rice is quite similar to our local fried rice, just that the grains are less starchy and lighter.

We dropped by Mirik, in Darjeeling. which is a popular tourist spot.

The weather was perfect and the skies were clear.

There is a small bridge - called the Rainbow bridge, which is built over the lake.

We also took a short horse ride around the picturesque lake.

Check out my horse - his/her hair has been tied up into a small bundle. Super cute.

We also had our first taste of Momos, which are essentially dumplings (similar to what you can get at ban mian stores in Singpaore). We had chicken and vegetable momos. These momos are served steaming hot and are a delightful snack.

During our first day in Darjeeling, we got up at 4am to catch the sun rise at Tiger Hill.

Unfortunately, so did hoards of other people - the whole place was so packed and squishy, so I didn't enjoy the sunrise as much (as my 2 other sunrises later).

The whole hill was so insanely crowded, that we had to disembark from the car and walk up the hill, with throngs of other tourists. Many people were hanging out of the window and standing on the roof to get a better view of the sunrise.

We watched the sunrise, and the brilliant colour change of the Kachenjanga mountain range.

It initially appears pinkish orange as the first sun rays touch it, and then becomes white as the sun rises.

We took a slow walk down the mountain (once all the other tourists went off) and took the opportunity to breathe in more of the crisp morning air.

It wasn't snowing when I went, but the ground was covered in frost.

The mountain range, with the many buildings in Darjeeling along the hills.

We also saw them repairing the road, which tar. They used firewood to heat up the tar, something which we don't see in Singapore.

Betel nut - which is also known as paan in India. Lots of betel nut chewers in this area. The brownish powder on the left side is tobacco, and there's also some bits of dried coconut for flavour.

The Toy Train in Darjeeling - didn't ride it cos it didn't seem very interesting (to me, at least) but it's UNESCO world heritage site and a 'must try' for most tourists to the area.

The next day, we took a walk around Darjeeling. I think this is the St Andrews Cathedral (please correct me if I'm wrong)

We also visited the Himalayan Zoo in Darjeeling. Unlike our zoo in Singpaore, the zoo is located in a hilly area (most of the places in Darjeeling are), so it's a steep climb within the zoo compound.

Map of the zoo exhibits - which include the Bengal Tiger and Snow Leopard.

The highlight of the visit - the super cute red pandas.

There were 2 red pandas when I visit, and they were very active, gambolling around the enclosure.

Totally doesn't look like Master Shifoo in Kungfu Panda. But very cute nonetheless.

The exhibits all have a very steep incline, and most of the time the animals were quite far away.

The other interesting place we visited was the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, which is located within the zoo compound. There's a museum there, documenting most of the early attempts at scaling Mt Everest - it's pretty interesting especially the displays with the old equipment used by the first few people who scaled Everest.

Our hotel in Darjeeling - which had a really nice garden (though it was a bit too cold to sit outside for prolonged periods of time)

Awesome scenery during most of the drives - lots of rolling hills, and on clear days, Mt Kachenjanga, the 3rd tallest mountain in the world. It got really cloudy during the later part of our trip - and we couldn't see the mountains well.

We stopped by the scenic 'Lover's Point' where rivers Teesta and Rangeet meet. There were so many bees and wasps there - I think there must be a huge nest of them nearby :/

We also drove through a tea plantation - which had lots of cherry trees in bloom.

The tea plantation - which was way cooler (temperature wise) than my tea plantation visit in Sri Lanka last year. The scenery is absolutely breathtaking.

Of course we made many stops along the way to have the world famous Darjeeling Tea - which the locals boil with milk and sugar.